A reader sent me the audio above this evening of a telemarketer who called him urging a “yes” vote on Measure 5. That measure is the one seeking to divert hundreds of millions of dollars per biennium to conservation. It’s been backed by millions in spending by special interest groups who have basically bought their…

November is sneaking up on us…which means that it’s time to start thinking about what’s going to happen at the ballot box. And, let me tell you, as a North Dakotan, there’s a few things that have me concerned. Let me take a minute to explain to you one of my largest concerns: The “Clean…

If you were one of the North Dakotans approached by the supposedly “volunteer” signature collectors for the conservation measure (these “volunteers” were so expensive the group backing the measure spent at least $8 per signature collected), you were probably told that the measure would divert only a tiny amount of state tax revenues into a…

Yesterday a SAB reader contacted me to say he heard a report on the radio indicating that the North Dakotans for Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks are claiming they didn’t use paid petitioners to gather signatures for a conservation measure that would divert billions in oil tax revenues to conservation projects over its lifetime. Sure…

The activists backing a constitutional amendment to fund conservation with oil tax dollars – called the Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks amendment – have been making a full-court press for signatures. They need 26,904 signatures from North Dakota citizens by August 6th to make the November ballot. In 2013 alone they group spent over $329,000…

Yesterday I wrote about North Dakotans for Common Sense Conservation – a group formed to oppose the Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks amendment – which announced that they would be seeking a criminal complaint against petitioners for the conservation amendment who were apparently collecting signatures outside of polling stations. It is illegal to collect signatures…

It’s an election day in North Dakota. Around the state voters are going to the polls to vote on nominations for statewide elected office, a statewide ballot measure and a host of local candidates and issues. But outside some polls in the state petitioners working for the Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks amendment (the conservation…

Last night I was on television for my weekly segment with Chris Berg on his 6:30 Point of View program on Valley News Live. Aside from the fact that I couldn’t keep my earpiece in my ear for some reason, it went well. We discussed my post about North Dakota Game & Fish’s devastating audit…

The Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks Amendment is little more than an attempt to give environmental nonprofit groups access to hundreds of millions of dollars for “conservation” projects with little oversight or accountability. Supporters of the proposed amendment claim it would “protect” the conservation funding by locking it in our state constitution so legislators wouldn’t…

I’ve written previously about the use of an auction of items seized by law enforcement from poachers to push the controversial Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks amendment. The North Dakota Wildlife Federation, which is a sponsor of the petition that, if passed, would divert hundreds of millions into conservation programs every biennium, used the state-sanctioned…